7. HERE CHRISTINE TELLS HOW SHE SPOKE TO THE
THREE LADIES.
W hen the speeches o f all three ladies were over— to
which I had listened intently and which had completely
taken away the unhappiness which I had felt before their
coming— I threw myself at their feet, not just on my
knees but completely prostrate because o f their great
excellence. Kissing the earth around their feet, adoring
them as goddesses o f glory, I began, my prayer to them:
“ O h ladies o f supreme dignity, radiance o f the heavens
and light o f the earth, fountains o f Paradise and joy o f the
blessed, where did such humility come from to Your
Highnesses that you have deigned to come down from
your pontifical seats and shining thrones to visit the
troubled and dark tabernacle o f this simple and ignorant
student? W ho could give fitting thanks for such a boon?
W ith the rain and dew o f your sweet words, you have
penetrated and moistened the dryness o f my mind, so
that it now feels ready to germinate and send forth new
branches capable o f bearing fruits o f profitable virtue
and sweet savor. H ow will such grace be bestowed on
me that I will receive the boon, as you have said, to build
and construct in the world from now on a new city? I am
not Saint Thomas the Apostle, who through divine grace
built a rich palace in Heaven for the king o f India, and my
feeble sense does not know the craft, or the measures,
or the study, or the science, or the practice o f construc
tion. And if, thanks to learning, these things were within
my ken, where would I find enough physical strength in
my weak feminine body to realize such an enormous
task? But nevertheless, my most respected ladies, although
the awesomeness o f this news seems strange to me, I
know well that nothing is impossible for God. Nor do I
doubt that anything undertaken with your counsel and
help will not be completed well. Thus, with all my
strength, I praise God and you, my ladies, who have so
honored me by assigning me such a noble commission,
which I most happily accept. Behold your handmaiden
1.7.1
15
Christine de Pizan
ready to serve. Command and I will obey, and may it be
unto me according to your w ords.”
8. HERE CHRISTINE TELLS HOW, UNDER REASON’S COM
MAND AND ASSISTANCE, SHE BEGAN TO EXCAVATE
THE EARTH AND LAY THE FOUNDATION.
1.8.1
Then Lady Reason responded and said, ‘‘Get up,
daughter! W ithout waiting any longer, let us go to the
Field of Letters. There the City o f Ladies will be founded
on a flat and fertile plain, where all fruits and freshwater
rivers are found and where the earth abounds in all good
things. Take the pick o f your understanding and dig and
clear out a great ditch wherever you see the marks of
my ruler, and I will help you carry away the earth on
my own shoulders.”
1.8.2
I immediately stood up to obey her commands and,
thanks to these three ladies, I felt stronger and lighter
than before. She w ent ahead, and I followed behind, and
after we had arrived at this field I began to excavate
and dig, following her marks with the pick o f cross-
examination. And this was my first work:
1.8.3
‘‘Lady, I remember well w hat you told me before,
dealing w ith the subject of how so many men have
attacked and continue to attack the behavior o f women,
that gold becomes more refined the longer it stays in the
furnace, which means the more women have been wrong
fully attacked, the greater waxes the m erit of their glory.
But please tell me why and for what reason different
authors have spoken against women in their books, since
I already know from you that this is wrong; tell me if
Nature makes man so inclined or w hether they do it out
o f hatred and where does this behavior come from ?”
Then she replied, ‘‘Daughter, to give you a way o f
entering into the question more deeply, I will carry
away this first basketful o f dirt. This behavior most
certainly does not come from Nature, but rather is con
trary to Nature, for no connection in the world is as
great or as strong as the great love which, through the
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